Table of Contents

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CBS News National Callback Survey, January #2, 2011 (ICPSR 33482)

Principal Investigator(s):CBS News

Summary:

This callback poll, fielded January 9-10, 2011, and originally fielded December 17-20, 2010, is part of a continuing series of monthly surveys that solicits public opinion on a range of political and social issues. Respondents were asked whether they approved of the way Barack Obama was handling his job as president, whether they expected 2011 to be a better year for them and their families than 2010, whether they thought the United States' influence in the world was increasing or decreasing, and whether they thought that China's grow... (more info)

This callback poll, fielded January 9-10, 2011, and originally fielded December 17-20, 2010, is part of a continuing series of monthly surveys that solicits public opinion on a range of political and social issues. Respondents were asked whether they approved of the way Barack Obama was handling his job as president, whether they expected 2011 to be a better year for them and their families than 2010, whether they thought the United States' influence in the world was increasing or decreasing, and whether they thought that China's growing economy was a major threat to the economic well-being of the United States. Respondents were asked for their opinions on Congress' interest in serving special interest groups, whether they thought that most Americans and Congress debate issues in a more civil manner than 10 years ago, whether members of Congress should be given bodyguards, and whether they thought that the United States has made a lot of progress in solving social problems such as poverty, disease, and lack of education in the past 50 years. Respondents were queried on gun control laws, whether they thought it is ever justifiable to take violent action against the government, the shooting in Tucson, Arizona of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords by Jared Loughner, to what effect stricter gun control laws would have prevented the violence in Tucson, whether harsh political campaigns had anything to do with the Tucson shooting, whether political views influenced Jared Loughner's shooting, and whether they or anyone in their household owns a firearm. Opinions were solicited on the war in Afghanistan, gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military, gay marriage and civil unions, illegal immigration, abortion, and embryonic stem cell research and funding. Additional topics included respondents' experiences with bullies growing up, miscellaneous holiday information, weight loss, opinions on WikiLeaks, the Royal Wedding, product labels, whether they are paid what they are worth, and Attention-Deficit Disorder. Demographic information includes sex, age, race, marital status, education level, household income, employment status, religious preference, whether respondents considered themselves to be a born-again Christian, type of residential area (e.g., urban or rural), political party affiliation, political philosophy, and voter registration status.

Methodology

Sample:
A variation of random-digit dialing (RDD) using primary sampling units (PSUs) was employed, consisting of blocks of 100 telephone numbers identical through the eighth digit and stratified by geographic region, area code, and size of place. Phone numbers were dialed from RDD samples of both standard land-lines and cell phones. Within households, respondents were selected using a method developed by Leslie Kish and modified by Charles Backstrom and Gerald Hursh (see Backstrom and Hursh, SURVEY RESEARCH. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1963).

Time Method:
Cross-sectional

Weight:
The data contain a weight variable that should be used in analyzing the data. According to the CBS News Web site, the data were weighted to match United States Census Bureau breakdowns on age, sex, race, education, and region of the country. The data were also adjusted for the fact that people who share a telephone with others have less chance to be contacted than people who live alone and have their own telephones, and that households with more than one telephone number have more chances to be called than households with only one telephone number.

Mode of Data Collection:
telephone interview

Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of
disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major
statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to
these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: